Intensives offer a unique opportunity to work on your relationship in a focused environment, free from everyday distractions. With the luxury of extra time and no interruptions, you’re able to delve deeper and cover more ground than in regular sessions.
A key part of relationship counselling is peeling back the layers to uncover the root of emotional disconnection, identifying the issues and emotional barriers that stand in the way of happiness together.
Have you ever set out with your partner to have an honest, meaningful discussion about your relationship, only for it to derail into an argument or end with one of you walking away?
In a couples’ intensive, that doesn’t happen. Your therapist is there to guide the conversation, keep you on track, and help you move past the moments where you feel stuck.
In weekly counselling, the insights gained during a session can sometimes get lost in the busyness and stress of daily life. Valuable time can also be spent revisiting issues that resurface before they’re fully resolved.
While some backtracking is natural and necessary, intensives minimise this because they allow you to see and revisit an issue from multiple angles in a concentrated time frame. This clarity and focus often lead to deeper insights that feel more lasting and transformative.
Couples and therapists alike find that intensives create an environment where a deeper level of understanding is reached more quickly. Insights are reinforced, and the progress made can feel deeply rewarding.
That said, it’s important to set realistic expectations. A couples’ intensive doesn’t guarantee that everything will be resolved in a single weekend. For some couples, it can be a transformative turning point, while for others, it may serve as a foundation for further work—whether that’s through follow-up sessions or another intensive in the future.
The right approach depends on the depth and complexity of the challenges in your relationship. You may already have a sense of where you fit—how significant or entrenched are the issues you’re facing?
We also recommend exercising caution with providers who market intensives as a “miracle weekend” or a guaranteed cure-all. While intensives are incredibly valuable for time-poor couples and can create the upward shift many couples need, they are not a magic solution. The progress you make is real and meaningful, but where you take it from there is up to you.
Each practitioner tailors the balance of educational material and therapy to suit the unique needs of each couple, assessing and adjusting as appropriate.
During the therapeutic parts of the intensive, you’ll each have plenty of opportunity to share your perspective on the issues at hand. Most of the talking will come from you, with your counsellor gently but purposefully guiding the conversation to move away from your usual patterns and towards deeper understanding.
The educational material focuses on the dynamics of relationships—how negative cycles develop and what keeps couples stuck. It provides practical tools to help you break free from these patterns. This material is introduced at carefully chosen moments to deepen your understanding and shift your perspective on what might have been going wrong in your relationship.
Your intensive will run from 10:30am to 4:30pm, with an hour lunch break. Even with the break, the day can feel intense (but incredibly rewarding). It might be the first time you’ve had the space to truly connect with your partner on a deeper level or recognised something significant within yourself to share with them. We hope the experience will be both profound and eye-opening.
f you have definitively decided to leave a relationship, attending an intensive would be unfair to both you and your partner.
However, if you are uncertain about staying or leaving, an intensive can be an excellent opportunity to explore the dynamics that have contributed to the breakdown of your relationship. This could lead to healing and the start of “marriage #2”—a deeper and more connected phase you may not have thought possible—or a much more amicable and resolved separation.
If your relationship involves issues of power and control, domestic violence, or severe addiction or dependency, an intensive couples retreat will not be suitable.
If you believe an intensive may be appropriate for you, please Contact Us to check availability and book your session.
Ideally, an intensive is best experienced away from the usual routines of home. Stepping out of your everyday environment, away from the demands of home and children, creates the space to focus on your connection and work on shifting and re-patterning how you relate to one another.
Usually held over 2 weekend days, but sometimes available for weekdays, Intensives usually begin around 9.30 am and finish around 4.30 pm, with a break for lunch. You will start the intensive together, have a little time alone with your therapist, and then spend the remainder of the two days together working on your presenting issues.
Senior Practitioner: 2 days – $2,990
Advanced Practitioner: 2 days – $3,290
To secure your intensive dates, we require a non-refundable deposit of $550. The remaining balance is due 14 days before the intensive begins. If, for any reason, you are unable to commence the intensive, the balance will be fully refunded.
If you’re able to travel for your intensive, you’ll benefit from the nurturing space and dedicated time it provides for your relationship. If travel isn’t an option, we also offer online intensives.
If you complete your intensive at our head office, you’ll find us in a charming heritage building in Canberra’s inner south, surrounded by leafy streets with ample street parking. We’re just a short stroll or drive from Manuka’s cafes and restaurants, and we recommend staying at East Hotel.
For intensives at our Bega office, located on the far south coast of NSW, we suggest finding accommodation by the beach in nearby Tathra for a truly restorative experience.
